This invention relates to a device for collection and assimilation of data, and more particularly, relates to a self-contained writing device that collects, recognizes or compacts data symbols, stores such symbols and transfers those symbols to a host computer.
Prior art data collection and recognition devices generally employ some sort of special writing surface on which a special stylus is applied and is limited to a particular character set or symbol set. Such prior devices are generally not very light in weight nor are they self-contained. Further, they require some sort of fixed physical interconnection with a host computer in order for them to be able to satisfactorily perform.
However, Texas Instruments has recently (summer of 1991) provided a commercial product that is approximately the size of a hand-held calculator and contains a small writing surface upon which handwriting may be sensed and recognized. This device also contains a screen that displays the recognized characters or symbols as they are written on the small writing surface. The recognized symbols may then be downloaded via a high speed RF or IR transmitter to a host computer for processing, and storage as an electronic audit trail. In addition, it contains a conventional numeric keyboard for performing arithmetic functions. Including the battery, this so-called audit terminal weighs about one pound.
There are various peripherals associated with personal computers such as keyboards, for example, which are cordless. That is, the keyboard is not physically connected to the host computer and does not require a physical wire for the keyboard to provide input to the computer. However, such cordless keyboards require constant monitoring of the screen of the computer with which they are to be used to ensure that the information that is being entered via the keyboard is being accurately and completely transmitted to the computer. There are also cordless pointers for computer generated displays used during a conference or meeting.
In addition, there are devices, such as a so-called mouse and/or track ball that are employed with a computer to enable a user to quickly move a cursor or piece of information at one location on a screen to another location. The mouse generally requires the directional movement of the mouse's roller across some flat surface and outputs a distance and direction traveled to the computer to move an element or cursor a corresponding distance on the screen. A track ball on the other hand is normally mounted on some fixed surface, such as an open area of a keyboard, and allows a user to manipulate or roll the ball with their fingers. In this manner, the amount of rotation of the track ball in a particular direction produces a corresponding directional movement of the cursor or material on the screen. The cordless pointer discussed hereinbefore, may include a small track ball for moving the cursor (or pointer) on the display.
There are also commercially available XY digitizing pads. In general, these XY pads require a physical wire between the pad and the computer with which they are to be used. These pads may employ bit mapped or vector techniques to convert the symbols written on their active surface area to signals that may be processed by a computer to determine what characters or data the written symbols represent. In addition, small such XY pads may be built into a portion of the surface of small hand-held calculators, or other devices (such as the foregoing described Texas Instruments device).
These and other disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by the present invention, however, and a new self-contained pen computer for the acquisition of, recognition or compaction of written data, and storage and transmission of such data is provided.